!
The Gaunt Old Man watched Hun Changqing send that entire menacing band of seven-colored snakes flying with a single slap, and his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Terror surged through him as he realized that the black-robed man who had bought his Seven-Colored Origin Stone was an unimaginably powerful expert. Any thought of squeezing out another petty bargain vanished. He hastily bundled up the odds and ends on his stall and fled toward the outside faster than he had ever run in his life.
Hun Changqing paid no attention to the old man's departure. Watching Cai Yuan kneel on one knee, coughing up blood, he restrained the killing intent in his heart. Only after the bloodthirsty red gleam in his eyes slowly faded did he flick his sleeve, turn, and stride away with Medusa.
Because he had plans for these people, Hun Changqing had not struck them hard. He had merely stirred a thin layer of his own energy and given them a light sweep as a warning. Otherwise, in the fleeting instant his energy erupted, every last one of them would have been reduced to dust, vanishing like smoke between heaven and earth.
Thus, they had suffered only minor injuries, with the Dou Qi inside them temporarily sluggish and difficult to mobilize. A black-robed man struggled up from the ground, staggered over to Cai Yuan, and asked with lingering fear.
"Miss, are you all right?"
After settling the roiling blood and energy inside her, Cai Yuan slowly recovered. At his words, she pressed a hand against the painful spot on her chest and shakily rose to her feet. A trace of bitterness crossed her pretty face as she gently shook her head.
"We were incompetent and failed to reclaim the Seven-Colored Origin Stone. Please punish us,